Bob Dole

Robert Joseph "Bob" Dole (22 July 1923-) was a member of the US Senate (R) from Kansas from 3 January 1969 to 11 June 1996, succeeding Frank Carlson and preceding Sheila Frahm; he previously served in the US House of Representatives from Kansas' 6th district from 3 January 1961 to 3 January 1963, succeeding Wint Smith, and from Kansas' 1st district from 3 January 1963 to 3 January 1969, succeeding William H. Avery and preceding Keith Sebelius. Dole was Gerald Ford's vice-presidential pick during the United States presidential election, 1976, Senate Majority Leader from 1985 to 1987 and from 1995 to 1996, and the Republican presidential nominee during the United States presidential election, 1996. His spouse Elizabeth Dole also entered politics.

Biography
Robert Joseph Dole was born in Russell, Kansas on 22 July 1923, and he studied at the Universities of Arizona and Kansas as well as Washburn Municipal University, Topeka, before qualifying as a lawyer. As an infantryman in World War II, he was so severely wounded during the Italian campaign that he lost a kidney and the use of an arm, and was several times believed to be on the verge of death. It took him two years to recover from his wounds. He was elected to the Kansas State Assembly as a Republican Party member in 1950, to the US House of Representatives in 1960, and to the US Senate in 1968.

In 1976, he ran as President Gerald Ford's vice-presidential nominee and attracted controversy for his abrasive debating style. He ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for president in 1980. In 1984, Dole rose to the leadership of the Republican Party in the Senate, and he again ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 1988, but he was defeated after a poor showing in the New Hampshire primary elections, outpaced by George H.W. Bush's promise not to raise taxes. He finally managed to gain the Republican nomination for president in 1996, choosing Jack Kemp as his running mate. He lost this election as well, and he retired from politics that year, later becoming a political activist. During the 2016 presidential election, he endorsed Jeb Bush, but he endorsed Donald Trump after he clinched the party's nomination.